Redamancy - Han Solo [3]

Chapter 11: Tasha Scares Luke (Again)

"So how's your son?" Tasha asked one of the soldiers, Kes, her mouth moving rather ungracefully around her standard rations, "he'll be nearly two now, wont he?" Kes smiled at her, nodding.

"Yeah, he'll turn two next month, actually," now it was Tasha's turn to smile. She'd only seen Kes and Shara's son Poe a couple of times, right after he was born, before he went to go live with his grandparents. Tasha didn't know how they did it, kept fighting like they did, when they have so many people that depend on them... the strength that it must take. Shara was a fighter pilot, one of the ones ready to go in and attack the Death Star, the attack Han was supposed to lead, but Tasha didn't let him. Her smile dropped slightly, but she recovered quickly, standing and brushing non-existent dust off her trousers.

"I better go and check with Artoo if he's picked anything up." The soldiers around her smiled in acknowledgement, carrying on with their rations. Han had thought they better take the chance to eat something; at this rate who knows when they were going to be able to stop again.

The smuggler leant against a tree a little while away, chewing on something thoughtfully, his Wookiee co-pilot by his side. Tasha leant against the tree next to him, looking just as thoughtful.

"I don't know how they do it," she said, arms crossed. Han looked down at her and spoke around a mouthful of food.

"Do what?"

"Shara and Kes," she replied, "do they just... not worry about it on missions or like, do they just believe so much in each other that they never question that they're going to come back?" Han sighed.

"I think it's just...you have to have faith in the other person, and their decisions, ya know?" he looked at Tasha, raising his eyebrows, but she just looked confused, "like, you worry, but you have to respect their choice, and hope that whatever powers that be keep them safe." Tasha smiled, looking at the ground.

"Thought you didn't believe in a mystic energy field that controlled your destiny?" she replied, smirking slightly as she looked up through her lashes. Han couldn't help but chuckle.

"I didn't until I met you." Tasha returned his look, slightly taken aback by his statement. Then her expression turned graver as she realised something:

"I took away your choice," she said quietly, more to herself.

"What?"

"Your decision, to go on the mission, I didn't give you a chance to make that choice."

"Hey, hey, hey." Han said quickly, trying to calm her down, catching her arm as she begun to walk away from him, making her turn around again and actually look at him. "Do you seriously believe that I would rather be up there on that suicide mission than down here with you on this one?" Tasha smiled slightly, she couldn't help it, he just had this way of saying the right thing to make her smile. Han smiled as well, more in relief than anything else, before his expression got more serious. "I made my choice a while ago, sweetheart."

"General Solo! Mistress Tasha!" Threepio's voice echoed through the forest, and Tasha groaned, head falling against Han's shoulder, "somebody's coming!" that was enough to snap the entire squad out of their relative feeling of safety. Tasha dropped to the ground, blaster at the ready. Han did the same next to her, both now instantly alert. The ferns close to them rustled, someone was running towards them. Tasha and Han looked at each other, silent communication passing between them, and the raven girl shuffled forward slightly, still keeping low, low to the ground, knees bent in a crouch. At least the white stormtroopers stand out, she thought as she moves, even without Artoo's scanning. She couldn't see the flash of white moving through the bushes that she expected however. Instead, the blotchy camo patterns of one of their rebel ponchos fluttered through the ferns, attached to a certain blond jedi.

"Luke!" Tasha shouted standing up. She waved to the rest of the squad that there wasn't any danger, and Han joined her as Luke ran over to them. Looking around, Tasha's expression darkened when she realised he was alone.

"Where's Leia?" now Luke looked worried.

"She hasn't come back yet?" Tasha's eyes flew wide at his statement.

"What?! I thought she was with you?"

"We got separated," Luke said, his voice quieter and looking rather scared. Han looks at Luke grimly as Tasha threw her hands up in the air in exasperation.

"Brilliant!"

"Hey we better go look for her," Luke said, still sounding concerned. Han nodded, signalling to Kes, who jogged the couple of steps forward.

"Take the squad ahead. We'll meet at the shield generator 0300." Ordered Han, and Kes nodded, looking to Tasha. The general nodded her ascension.

"Come on Artoo," shouted Tasha, already starting to walk away in the direction Luke and Leia had zoomed off in, "we'll need your scanners!"

Both Han and Luke watched as Tasha headed off through the bushes, and Han gave an exasperated sigh. Luke just looked terrified.

"She's gonna kill me, isn't she?" Han raised his eyebrows at him.

"Look, kid, I try to be optimistic, but if we can't find Leia..." he looked at the blond boy, "the Empire's gonna be the least of your worries."

**********

author's ramble:

Howdy everybody! 

Sorry for missing my chapter update last week, I hope y'all weren't too disappointed lol, but I had some family dramas going on, my dad was in hospital and by the time I had put my energy into sorting out that, there just wasn't really a lot left over for my story and my number one goal is to do Tasha and her story justice. I don't want to just copy and paste the movie script in there with another character sharing the lines. 

How did we like this week's cameo??? I LOVE a good Easter egg in my story (Jyn Erso earlier on etc) so keep your eyes peeled for them later on as well! Sorry this week's chapter is a little 

Anyways, as always, keep that feedback coming! I love to hear what you guys think of the story and how you think its gonna go (or if you thought something would turn out different). Also, this week, just coz I'm curious, if you want, comment your assumptions about Tasha and her character. Just for funnies. 

Lots of love,

Tx